Maui Magazine / Maui Magazine March/April 2007 / Environmental Heroes

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Environmental Heroes

They don’t wear capes. They don’t fly, or bend steel with their bare hands.

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Every year in our Environmental Issue, MNKO recognizes a few of Maui County’s resident eco-heroes—those who work hard at the grassroots level to restore and protect all things natural to the Islands. This year we’ve also included a few individuals striving to make a difference at the global level, by highlighting their attempts to lessen humanity’s impact on the planet . . . one step at a time. 
   
With some help from nominations by our readers, we’ve selected six who pursue such work with diligence and passion. Mary Evanson (“High-Maintenance Woman”) has spent more than half a lifetime protecting the fragile ecosystem of the mountain Haleakala. For years, Dr. Fern Duvall (“Father Hen”) has kept close, careful watch over Hawai‘i’s endangered native birds. Meagan Jones (“Beauty and the Behemoth”) is inspiring the next generation by translating whale research to education. Shaun Stensohl (“The Can-Do Man”) is empowering mainstream awareness of the need to “Reduce, Reuse, Recycle” (a popular song by Jack Johnson) through his Bio-beetles and Maui Recycling companies.
   
And then there are the Kings—Robert and Kelly—royal monarchs of Pacific Biodiesel (“They Rule!”) who opened the United States’ first retail biodiesel plant on Maui a decade ago and have since built nine more across the country, and beyond. Even resident crooner Willie Nelson is on their bio-powered bandwagon. 
   
It’s a privilege to honor these hardworking, yet humble men and women, who, by acting on their personal convictions, are making life better for all the inhabitants of this irreplaceable and finite planet.
   
Do you know someone who deserves recognition as an environmental hero for Maui? Mail your nomination, with a brief description of your nominee, to Managing Editor, Maui No Ka ‘Oi, 90 Central Avenue, Wailuku, HI 96793; email info@mauimagazine.net; or log on to www.mauimagazine.net. Mahalo!